Well, in the fifties we were treated to plenty of Westerns at our local cinemas and these below cover some of them – some well known, some not

First BELOW we have an unlikely pairing, I would have thought, although I really liked both of them.

Rio Bravo was a top rate Western.

‘The House on Haunted Hill’ ‘was filmed in Emergo where we saw, in one sequence, a skeleton ’emerge’ from the screen into the audience by way of a contraption fitted into each cinema with ropes and pulleys being used so that the skeleton hovered over the first few rows of the auditorium.

It was more laughable than scary.

Vincent Price was on great form in the film

BELOW – wo pretty well-known ones and you could well see these two as a good programme

BELOW – An Amaerican town – Sarasota – puts on the Western bonanza of films.

I can’t say I know any of these films – although there are some pretty well-known stars of the era – certainly Randolph Scott – to a lesser degree Sterling Hayden in ‘Top Gun’ and James Arness better known to TV viewers

Westerns

ABOVE – Randolph Scott again in one I do know ‘Seven Men from Now’

August 31, 2016igsjr

Gun the Man Down ABOVE

Gun the Man Down a“B-Western .  Not that it’s not a low-budget western (this film was shot in nine days)—the cast is relatively small, and the set (much of this was filmed at the Jack Ingram Ranch in Woodland Hills,

Gun the Man Down ABOVE

However ‘Girls in Prison’ and ‘Return to Treasure Island’ are certainly not Westerns but still look worth seeing

‘Girls in Prison’ and ‘Return to Treasure Island

Now back to August of 1949 -As he continued to take full advantage of English locations, Director Byron Haskin took his unit to a lime pit near Harefield, only about 4 miles from Denham.

Here he found the ideal location to film a sequence where Ben Gunn who had not seen another human being for 5 years jumped down and stood in front of a startled Jim Hawkins against the wall of the lime pit.

An old bomb hole proved perfect for the spot where the treasure was buried. Designer Tom Morahan had located this as a near perfect spot

In this picture we seen Director Byron Haskin looking over Robert Newton’s shoulder on this same scene.

Technicolor Stills from this location :-

Also BELOW scenes from earlier when the landing on the island was filmed in the dammed up River Colne in the grounds of Denham Film Studios

Treasure Island

ABOVE – Robert Newton listens intently to Byron Haskin’s instruction

ABOVE – A few yards away on another raft Byron Haskin lets Robert Newton know what he wants

These two respected one another – In fact they both chose to work together again with the later ‘Long John Silver’ film made in Australia in 1954. In fact both invested in the film which should have done much better.

Byron Haskin would stand no nonsense and when directing a film was ‘in charge’ – after ‘Treasure Island’ he directed Burt Lancaster and Joan Rice in ‘His Majesty O’Keefe’ – a film I really like – made in Fiji.

Burt Lancaster was something of a bully boy and had threatened Directors who he didn’t agree with – even when they knew more than he did.

He never threatened Byron Haskin

This photograph gives a much better view of the exotic Treasure Island with sandy beaches and palm trees.

Quite an impressive shot – and just shows the ingenuity of the Denham staff making the dammed lake at Denham into that mystical tropical island. Very impressive as is the colour.

Back to the filming schedule as reported on 10 August 1950

Sea shanties and ocean waves were the feature of this week’s filming when a break in the weather caused the unit to concentrate on interior shooting.

Excellent progress was made on the detailed settings which reproduced the Below- Deck Hispaniola. The sound of creaking timbers and the rise and fall of the distant horizon as provided by the unit’s new Horizon-graph helped provide a realistic background rousing singing of the pirate crew.

After the deluge might well described the set later in the week scenes of huge waves pouring through the foc’sle and companion way were filmed with the aid of a cunningly contrived water shute high up in the roof.

Equally deft was the manner in which the first mate Arrow played by David Davies is ‘lost’ at sea by Long John Silver. A plate of plum duff and free access to the rum bottle paves the way for his hasty exit from this life in the turbulent seas.

Walt Disney returned from the Continent on Saturday and is spending the week at the studio on finsl conference with producer Perce Pearce, his production executive Fred Leahy and Director Byron Haskin before sailing on August 13th for America and his Hollywood Studio.

Scenes BELOW = see above

Long John Silver feeds Mr Arrow and fills him full of rum before helping him climb the steps from below-deck as the water from the heavy seas poured into the Hispaniola

Mr Arrow – played by David Davies did not survive

With the temperature at Denham hovering close to the 90 dergree mark – this is at the very end of July – the luckiest actor on the Denham set was Walter Fitzgerald who plays Squire Trelawney.

He spent much of one of the hottest days of the year in the cool waters of the tropical lagoon which had been achieved at the back of Denham Studios by damming up the River Colne.

Director Byron Haskin was filming one of the final sequences of the story in which Long John Silver ( Robert Newton ) produces a hidden gun after his capture in one of the long boats and forces the Squire to jump overboard so that Long John can escape

Walter Fitzgerald didn’t take much persuading to make the required dive nor did it require much urging for the camera crew and the other technicians to don their bathing trunks to facilitate the handling of the camera equipment on the barge where it was situated.

Other sequences scheduled for this week, was for work on the Spyglass Inn in Bristol but my own view is that this was little used in the final film with studio sets at Denham being used

Visiting the set during this last week was Robert S Wolff Managing Director of RKO Radio. Afterwards producer Perce Pearce took him into the projection room to show ‘rushes’ from the first two weeks of filming and judging from the smiles on their faces afterwards, progress must have been satisfactory

Long John Silver is captured and then tuns the tables

A cool dip on a very hot day at Denham

I am posting these images that really show the exotic nature of Treasure Island – actually the Denham lake with ingenious additions

When I look again at this sequence, I am totally blown away with just how good it looks – that fabulous Technicolor has a lot to do with it. When I first saw this film as a small child with my Mother and Dad — I was almost trembling with excitement because there had been such a build up in terms of publicity that to actually see it on the big screen was like a dream come true – and it was even better than I could have imagined. The Colour was so impressive and so beautiful particularly on this scene

I look again at these pictures and see that exotic Treasure Island just as we had imagined it – but even better.

That summer apparently was particularly hot so the filming of exteriors was made much easier

Filming had begun at the end of June 1949 of Walt Disney’s ‘Treasure Island’ at Denham Film Studios with some location work in Devon and Cornwall

In fact for the scenes when the pirates landed on Treasure Island the actual grounds of Denham where it sloped down the the River Colne was used as this exotic island – and when seen on the Technicolor screen it looked perfect.

At the end of July 1949 during a very hot spell of weather the very clever craftsmen at Denham had dammed the RIver Colne, cleared the rushes away, hauled in sand and hung long, twisting vines from the trees.

Most startling of all was the introduction of a number of 40 ft high Palm Trees – artificial of course but realistic. This followed work on the removal of the rushes by the lakeside and then the importing of tonnes and tonnes of sand for the beach

Credit for this wonderful setting goes to the craftsmen who worked tirelessly on the project under the guidance of production designer Thomas Morahan

These were great memorable scenes

ABOVE =- We can see where the tonnes of sand had effectively utilised

What great fun – and hard work – it would have been to have been there during this week of filming

I have been away for much of January 2026, so this Blog has been somewhat neglected but I am now back and continuing with the very detailed reporting of this film’s production. More to come

I am sure many of us film fans receive such gifts at Christmas – and will welcome them as I did. This is a very detailed book with few pictures but plenty of detail.

I haven’t read that much of it yet but I did hone in on one particular chapter which was very interesting and told, with dates when some of the Major Studios sold the Television Rights So that we could eventually view them on our small screens

Looking around for film books specialising in the old films often you find that they are no more than re-hashes of things most of us fans have already known and seen.

Something like this is incredibly detailed and will I am sure throw up snippets we did not know – and so we will unearth another ‘jewel’ – at least I hope so

I should have posted this at Christmas of course

As reported on July 14th, Russell Lloyd was busy down in Devon and Cornwall but the main studio scenes under the direction of the vastly experienced Byron Haskin were proceeding at a pace.

Thanks to excellent pre-production planning by Perce Pearce, the producer, and to the skill and dedication of the Denham technicians, it was possible to take advantage of the bight sunshine during the majority of the week, and then in cloudy periods to go inside the studio for interior action. Among these inside scenes were those in the cabin of Captain Smollett who is portrayed by Basil Sydney.

ABOVE – Filming in the Studios at Denham some of the early scenes. Here we have – behind the huge Technicolor Camera – Camera Operator Skeats Kelly, Walt Disney, Perce Pearce and Byron Haskin – and below ace camerman Freddie Young.

Later update on July 20th. Work on the film entered it’s third week

Already completed are the scenes in the street in Bristol – on a Denham Film set – and much of the action of the defence of the stockade by Captain Smollett and his band of loyal men from the maurauding pirates led by Long John Silver.

In the completed film the action in and around the stockade was thrilling

There had been minor cuts and bruises sustained by some of the actors in those heated exchanges , however most of the Technicolor blood was supplied by Tony Sforzini in the make-up department.

Meanwhile down in Devon, the ‘Hispaniola’ was now sailing round the coast to Falmouth for more scenes

Above: The street set for BRISTOL at Denham . Walt Disney with his family on the set of Treasure Island during their visit here in 1949. Bobby Driscoll one of the stars of the film with them too. This shot is actually on one of the sets at Denham Film Studios.

Wonderful Colour the stockade filmed as above

 ABOVE – at the stockade

More to come – much more …………

Apparently is was a glorious summer in 1949 as filming of Walt Disney’s ‘Treasure Island’ began in late June. Such a film for Walt Disney had not been attempted before – this was a non-cartoon Live Action film to be made in England at Denham Film Studios with some location work in Cornwall.

The above picture shows the ‘Hispaniola’ – ready for filming probably in Cornwall

ABOVE – very large model ‘Hispaniola’ – again most probably in Cornwall in readiness

Walt Disney and his family had arrived in England aboard the Queen Mary in June – and he is seen BELOW with his daughter Sharon buying flowers from a market stall somewhere in the West End of London – this picture appeared in the Cinema Studio magazine of 29 June 1949

Treasure Island

Favoured by sunny skies and a carefully planned 65 day shooting schedule, the RKO-Walt Disney film got under way on Monday 4 July 1949 as planned, at Denham Film Studios under the direction of Byron Haskin.

Additional casting at this stage included John Gregson, Ralph Truman, David Davies, William Devlin and Geoffrey Keen as Israel Hands.

Also another interesting minor character was ‘Vane’ and this role went to Reg Peters who was cast on 28 June 1949, again as reported in the Cinema Studio Magazine of 6 July – however in the films credits ‘Vane’ is played by Reginald Drummond I wonder if the wrong name has been printed. He was reported as being ‘mine host’ at the White Horse Hotel in Moretonhampstead on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon- and he travelled to Denham no doubt staying there, and relinquishing his day job temporarily.

As well as the arrival of Walt Disney, his trusted colleague Perce Pearce the producer of the film had arrived in England to oversee the filming along with his family. It has he who enlisted second unit director to head down to Appledore in Devon for location filming. It is also rported that Walt Disney was heading down to Hartland in Devon for approximately 7 days iof filming.

Hartland Beach was to be used. Local horses were hired to pull a coach and the Quay Hotel was to double as the ‘Admiral Benbow’. My own opinion was that this footage was not used and the ‘Admiral Benbow’ was built in the Denham Film Studio.

At Hartland Quay on Monday a pirate crew wearing pigtails and carrying an assortment of weapons landed by rowing boat but their activities were cut short by rain – the first that had fallen in North Devon for weeks.

This was the start of the filming in this district of exterior scenes for Walt Disney’s production of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic ‘Treasure Island’.

There was plenty of activity at the Hartland Quay Hotel, an old building adjoining, which is being transformed into the ‘Admiral Benbow Inn’. The landing of the pirate crew, who were all ‘extras’ recruited locally, were watched with keen interest by many holidaymakers and residents.

At this stage some exterior scenes were to be shot in Falmouth‘

Filming occurred in July 1949, with Falmouth and the surrounding Cornish coast serving as a primary location for exterior ship scenes. The specific areas used included: 

• The River Fal
• Carrick Roads
• Helford River
• Falmouth Docks (for wharf scenes) 

The schooner used for all exterior ship scenes was a real 19th-century vessel named the Ryelands, which was reconfigured and renamed the Hispaniola for the film. The ship was a frequent visitor to Falmouth during the filming period in 1949

On 13 July thunderstorms wreaked havoc on filming with light so poor that no shooting could be done – the huge Technicolor cameras need a lot of light. Neither Robert Newton or Bobby Driscoll went down to Cornwall on location.

I do remember my Aunt who had visited Cornwall with her husband at the time saying that Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel had been earmarked for ‘Treasure Island’ and this in fact was very true but for whatever reason no scenes were ever shot there – it may appear in a long shot as Treasure Island and that is as far as it went

More to come …………